Around 5,000 soldiers marching in the military parade will stay at the former General Services Administration regional office building.
WASHINGTON — Between 4,500 and 5,000 members of the U.S. Army will be staying at the old General Services Administration regional office building in DC ahead of the Army’s 250th year celebration. It will be their home for nearly a week.
“There’s a lot of folks that are here that have never been to DC before, they’ve never been to our nation’s capital,” said Lt. Colonel Garrett Searle. “There’s a couple things that I think, hey, if you’re a soldier, you’re here to celebrate the anniversary of our army and, in a way our nation. There’s a couple things here you’ve got to see, the war memorials, you’ve got to take a walk around the reflecting pool.”
Soldiers stationed as far as Hawaii, Alaska and even Germany and Korea will soon gather in spaces like the food hall in the old administration building.
“I anticipate it’s going to be a lot like a big family reunion,” said Searle. “If you serve for a little while in the Army or probably any military service, you quickly find out it’s a very small community.”
While they’re in their temporary home, they’ll have everything they need, including some space to blow off some steam provided by the United Service Organizations.
“They brought food, snacks, some board games, some video game systems,” said Searle.
If soldiers suffer any bumps or bruises during their stay, they can handle that here, too.
“Emergencies, of course, we’re going to try to defer out to DC Fire and EMS, but anything from I fell off a scooter and cut my head open, we’re trying to reduce the burden on the city’s infrastructure by being able to treat that in-house,” said Major Aubrey Hanson.
The soldiers will sleep on cots in cleared-out office spaces.
“Some large, some small, so we’re using those to house soldiers while they’re here for the parade,” said Searle. “It’s seven floors, 5,000 soldiers. It’s a lot.”
The Army also turned one of its larger rooms into a command center for parade preparations and national security.
“Even while we are celebrating the anniversary of our Army, we also have to keep one part focused on that constant contingency role that we play in defense of our nation,” said Searle.
All this in preparation to put our Army on full display.
“This parade, this celebration, does provide the nation with a way to see and celebrate its army as we get started in the process of celebrating our anniversary of our nation,” said Searle.
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